“This is Brandon Marshall. … I understand you’re trying to find out some information about me,” Hopkins wrote of a call he received from an unknown number.

That turned into an invitation to spend time with Marshall at his Florida home, and a lot of insight into the talented-but-troubled player’s past.

But at every turn, Marshall stonewalled many of Hopkins’ efforts to dig deeper, specifically into his relationship with his father, whose records show a familiar tendency toward violence toward women.

The story is well worth a cup of coffee and a read (it may require two), because it paints a complicated picture of a complicated man.

As Marshall goes back and forth with Hopkins, he alternated from welcoming to wary.

— “I want you to observe me for who I am,” Marshall said when he picked the reporter up at the airport. “There is a perception out there that is unfair, and there really is another side that I think will help your story.”

— “That’s not productive to the healing processes for my father and (my) relationship,” Marshall said. “And that’s more important than a good story and people understanding me.”

— “I keep saying ‘observe.’ You’re going to walk away here with a feeling of a positive experience or a negative experience,” he told the reporter. “You’re going to feel like something. … I can sit here and tell you anything and you can forget it. Or I can tell you anything and it really doesn’t matter. Right now I could be acting. I could be doing things I never do before, acting like I never act before. And you’d either forget it or it really means nothing because it’s a show.”

The whole thing smacks of Marshall working extremely hard to present a new image to a new town. There’s nothing wrong with a fresh start. But rather than reveal, there was more effort to conceal, and in that, Marshall may have painted a truer picture of the background that put him in the place he’s in today.

Marshall will never change who he is. He will wear out his welcome in Chicago withn a year or two and won’t be around real long. Denver and Miami saw how crazy he is and couldn’t wait to dump him off on another sucker team. The Bears will regret trading those two 3rd round picks. Two years from now Marshall will either be in prison, dead or playing for his fourth NFL team. Good luck Chicago. lol.

cornersss says:Jun 24, 2012 10:54 AM

“The whole thing smacks of Marshall working extremely hard to present a new image to a new town.”

Im a phin fan, was annoyed by how little we got for him. But he tried when he came hear. He did better then most diva wr’s have done in recent past.
He also opened up more here also.

So i dont think this is new. This has been a work in progress since he left the broncos.

The thing that worries me, he does more to protect those that hurt him, his wife, his father, then to protect himself. Hes right, people do have the wrong perception of him, especially recently. That horrible woman coming out saying he punched her,wasnt true proved later,didnt help one bit and imo played a small role in him leaving.

His problem though is undercutting his qb’s in interviews and in the offseason. Doubt bears will have that issue now. He tossed all the qb’s under the buss this offseason trying to get a qb he wanted into Miami, then the bar issue happened after new head coach philbin was signed. The guy just has bad timing

Horrible work by the Tribune ”journalist” and even worse synopsis and conclusions drawn by the PFT blogger.

Marshall has no obligation to discuss whatever he chooses not to discuss. And the above post’s inference that Marshall is concealing
For ulterior purposes and is just cheap and cruel on Darin’s part. Marshall is trying to recover from his mental illness/personality disorder. Reasonable after reading the Tribune article that Marshall’s childhood/upbringing was hellish and that talking about it to the press is counter productive to his recovery and also that he owes self-entitled reporters.

sanjose61 says:Jun 24, 2012 12:24 PM

I agree with easyeddie completely.

Let’s let this 28 year old man proceed with the learning and living of life, and judge him by what he does henceforth… and not by his past, which clearly was a more difficult past than most people have experienced.

metalhead65 says:Jun 24, 2012 12:34 PM

so even though he has and is working hard to change his image and the person he is in order to get to know him you must continue to drag up past incidents and delve deep into his personal life? and if he does not want to discuss them anymore or drag his famly life into it then he is hiding something and hasn’t changed? why are entitled to know every single thing about a athlete? if he does not want to discuss something then it is none of your buisness and you should leave it alone. another we are the press and pft and how dare you react to what we say and do case.

purpleguy says:Jun 24, 2012 12:42 PM

Look, the guy’s trying, which is great and all that, and I bet he has a great year reunited with Cutler. But seriously, it’s just a matter of time before things go all to hell again.

scalfor3 says:Jun 24, 2012 1:39 PM

he’s trying and you gotta respect him for that. but it is troubling that he refers to his dad as a “role model” after the kind of things the guys done

randomguy9999 says:Jun 24, 2012 6:18 PM

the article is more to the point that the MO with his specific problem, Borderline Personality Disorder, is do terrible stuff, deny eveything, blame everyone else….. and those are terrible qualities in a teammate.

BM just proved it’s business as usual for him…. in fact his condition is so serious, he reached out to a reporter doing background to try to convince the reporter everything is perfect in BM town…. how many players do that?

He’s got a serious problem… and I wish him well with it…. but the Bears are in for a ride…..

Marshall’s life off the field has nothing to do with the game.. On the field Marshall is a game changer an nobody in the north has a corner back that can stop him one on one… Be afraid packers fans the truth is on the football field not at the night club or in his personal life

larryboodry says:Jun 30, 2012 9:06 PM

Brandon Marshall showed tremendous restraint with the reporter, who insisted on asking intrusive questions that he’d initially agreed were off limits, and who obviously had no respect for either Marshall, his family, or his privacy. I don’t have BPD, but if it was me, the reporter would have been shown the door at the first improper question, with a pit bull dangling from each butt cheek.